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Europe's largest low cost airline, Ryanair, will enter the Bosnian market this year by introducing flights to Banja Luka. It comes following protracted talks with the government of the Entity of Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The carrier will introduce two weekly services from Charleroi Airport in Belgium, each Monday and Friday, starting October 29, as well as from Memmingen in Germany from October 30, each Tuesday and Saturday. The Prime Minister of the entity, Željka Cvijanović, has said that "several additional destinations will also be launched" by the airline in the coming period. Tickets for the new routes are already available for purchase through the carrier's website.
Commenting on the new route, Ryanair’s Sales and Marketing Executive for Belgium, Helene Begasse, said, “We are pleased to announce a new Brussels Charleroi to Banja Luka route commencing this November. This new route marks Ryanair's entry into Bosnia and Herzegovina, and wi…

The world's largest carrier, American Airlines, is considering introducing seasonal flights to Dubrovnik. According to the "TangoSix" portal, the company is in talks with the airport over a seasonal service from Philadelphia. A decision on the matter is expected within the next month. American operates a number of seasonal flights to Europe from its Philadelphia hub including Athens, Barcelona, Budapest, Frankfurt, Glasgow, Lisbon, Prague, Shannon and Venice. This year, the airline expanded its reach from Philadelphia into Europe with seasonal flights to Budapest and Prague. Both are operated by its Boeing 767-300 aircraft. The move is seen as affirming American’s commitment to Philadelphia as a trans-Atlantic gateway.
Dubrovnik Airport has identified the United States and South Korea as two far-away markets which could sustain services to the coastal city. Speaking to EX-YU Aviation News, Dubrovnik Airport's General Manager, Frano Luetić, said, "These two far-…

Air Serbia to launch Kiev service in June

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Kiev Airport announces new Air Serbia flights

Kiev's Boryspil International Airport has announced that Air Serbia will launch flights from Belgrade to the Ukrainian capital this summer season. Boryspil Airport's spokeswoman, Oksana Ozhigova, said plans are currently in place for the Serbian carrier to commence operations on June 2. Flights will initially operate three times per week, before gradually increasing to six weekly services. Ms Ozhigova added that besides Air Serbia, new arrivals at Boryspil Airport this summer will include Aegean Airlines, which will introduce flights from both Athens and Larnaca, as well as Mahan Air from Tehran and Ellinair from Heraklion. Last month, Air Serbia's Chairman, Siniša Mali, said the carrier was considering inaugurating services to Kiev, while in January, the Ukrainian Ambassador to Serbia, Oleksandr Aleksandrovych, noted that flights between the two capital cities would launch this summer.

Air Serbia itself has not issued an official statement on the new route launch and flights are yet to be loaded into the system. Ukraine's Aerosvit Airlines suspended services between Kiev and the Serbian capital in June 2011 citing "technical reasons". The carrier has since filed for bankruptcy. On the other hand, Air Serbia cancelled plans to launch daily flights to the Ukrainian capital from May 29, 2014 due to security reasons, stating at the time, "The safety of our guests and crew is paramount to the airline". Meanwhile, direct flights between Ukraine and Russia have been discontinued since last October. Foreign carriers are now benefiting, with some 680.000 passengers, who travel between the two countries by air, now seeking alternatives. Foreign airlines operating flights to both Ukraine and Russia have seen this as a drawcard for boosting services to Kiev.

Air Serbia will increase frequencies on a number of routes in its network this summer, including Amsterdam, Berlin, Bucharest, Dusseldorf, Sofia, Dubrovnik, Pula and Split. It will also resume other seasonal flights such as Malta and Varna. The airline has so far confirmed it will introduce services from Belgrade to New York on June 23, while the Mayor of Ohrid has said Air Serbia will inaugurate seasonal summer flights to the lakeside city this June, following talks with the carrier last week. Meanwhile, officials from Bihor County in Romania told the "Bihor Online" portal that they are continuing their talks with Air Serbia over potential services from Belgrade to Oradea, which, according to them, would commence in autumn. The 2016 summer season begins on March 27.

Personally i won't regret it although flights were always full. IEV would be a better choice than KBP so i guess an interline or codeshare agreement with PS should be in works, that would explain why they went for Borispol.

IEV is to central Kiev what is Crveni Krst to Kalemegdan whilst KBP is more like Nova Pazova. The airport is new and well connected to the public transportation, offers free Wi-Fi, it's organised etc. Aegean until recently used to fly there, so does Air Baltic.

This will be a very intersting year.Air Serbia are counting on transfer passengers between Ukraine and Russia. In the same time Siberian Airlines (S7) are in advanced talks over acquiring a Bulgarian company in order to bypass the Ukraininan\Russian restrictions. Bulgaria Air have just created a new company called BUL Air which is the subject of those talks.Furthermore, Dniprovia announced that the seasonal line to SOF from KBP will be converted to year-round from late March with 3x weekly flights.

My guess is that airBaltic is the main one when it comes to moving passengers between Russia and Ukraine. Belavia's connections are not as smooth especially because of an inadequate infrastructure at Minsk airport.

Have you ever thought that there might be a reason why flights between BEG and MAD/BCN never really operated on year round basis and why Vueling flies only seasonally? The reason is extreme high seasonality and few business links.

I don't think they can compete on these routes from Romania nor Bulgaria. Both countries have a lot of connections to Spain and in addition to TAROM and Bulgaria Air they have LCC - Wizz, Blue Air and Ryan.

@ Anonymous March 3, 2016 at 9:28 AMDon´t you tell me Skoplje has better business links to BCN then Belgrade please. I mean even seasonaly Madrid or Barcelona would really be good choice, cos I perosnally know many ppl flying from Budapest on those routes.

So funny labeling things as subsidized and jumping to conclusions without any figures involved. Actual support is immaterial compared to the cost of the route. It takes some guts and a good financial sheet to go for something more exciting like BCN.

I don't think that BEG can be compared with SOF in matters the connections to Spain. There is huge Bulgarian diaspora in Spain. SOF-BCN is operated currently by 2 companies on year-round basis and 1 on seasonal basis. By the end of the year also Ryan will be operating this route which makes in total 3+1 companies... Same goes for Madrid. SOF actually have connections to MAD/BCN/VLC/ALC/AGP/PMISo, I don't think that you can compare...

That same Wizz Air - with its guts and a good financial sheet - can open BEG-BCN literally overnight if they wish. But they don't do it. Which means they did their math and concluded that BEG catchment area does not create enough demand for a year-round service to BCN.

Now, it could be that the SKP catchment area is very rich compared to that of BEG and they can easily afford city breaks in Barcelona throughout the year.

Or it could be that Wizz's math in SKP has some variables their math in BEG does not have. And thanks to these variables they can keep BCN year-round.

It's really sad to hear about BEG management if this is really the main reason. BCN has connections to almost all European capitals on a year round basis...even cities like KIV, KBP, MSQ! JU used to once do GRO (almost 90km away from BCN) but sadly, the route stopped.

What exactly is the role of the BEG management there? If Wizz think BEG-BCN would work for them, all they have to do is apply and they will get it.

If they don't apply and don't see the route would work for them, what is it that BEG management can do? Invite them to a meeting and show them some presentation that promotes the route? I am afraid Wizz are able to do their homework and cannot be persuaded just like that.

That leaves cash (because money talks) as the only 'capable' thing BEG management can do. Direct cash subsidies or special prices in BEG. However, Serbian government chose to fund its own carrier rather than LCCs, therefore BEG management cannot offer any incentives to Wizz. Wizz can only open BEG-BCN if there is enough demand among passengers for it.

BEG management are a bunch of incompetent fools, but I would really like to read your suggestions on what is exactly that they can do to make any carrier open BEG-BCN?

I agree with Anon @ 3:38. Another point though - Wizz is not looking to opening any risky routes in BEG as long as the current support scheme is in place allowing the domestic carrier to come on top and dump fares without paying taxes. FKB is an exception that confirms the rule.

As for SKP having BCN due to airport management being capable.. don't even get me started. Just take TAV out of the equation altogether.

Yeah but by ignoring BEG they are making themselves vulnerable to an eventual 'attack' by Ryanair which has been expanding all over the region. However, this setup we have in BEG is not benefiting anyone really; everyone is at a loss, the passengers, Wizz Air, Air Serbia... and in case Ryanair was to enter the market the whole system would fall like a house of cards. The aviation business model in Serbia is not sustainable in the long-run.

Here is a short analysis of this move. This is Air Serbia's first expansion to the East in two years which is more than welcome and follows a logical trend of every transfer airline to align and balance its network geographically, whereas a great disbalance could have been noticed as of now with roughly 70% of the traffic ex-BEG headed to Western Europe [O&D-shaped network] albeit without the necessary feed. As earlier forecasted, New York has proved to be the catalyst to fuel such a move and the much (if not urgently) needed growth in order to dispel any illusions of stagnation or that the airline has lost its direction. Albeit a small move, it sends a strong message to both the investors and to the competition. Although, as symbolically important as it is, Kiev won't be enough and a further expansion to LED, Ukraine (through codeshare with PS), ESB and CAI would be more than welcome in the foreseeable future. In the region, too much of an emphasis has been put onto the highly seasonal Croatian market while a much larger year-round one Romania has been downplayed if not ignored. Great move although more should come.

IKA is a must however i tend to assume that there are currently no aircraft for it and operating it with a leased material is a no-go for Air Serbia's financial sheets at the moment. Another possibility is the use of Adria's fleet for those flights, if their cooperation goes beyond the summer flights to Kiev. Third factor to be taken into consideration is the blessing of Etihad over such a move which would indirectly compete with their own flights, however i consider that as a minor obstacle to those faced within the very Air Serbia's establishment, making todays Kiev the very Tehran.

Another option would be for Air Serbia to fly to places not served by the Etihad group which is Shiraz, Tabriz, Esfahan...all that pending government approvals and ratification of a new ASA.

Do Ukranians need visas to enter Serbia? If not, then as expected they will no longer need visas to EU Schengen states as of mid 2016 and thus more people are expected to travel and of course emmigrate. Good move ASL!

Ukrainians don't need visa for enter Serbia and Montenegro (they love the sea of Montenegro). Last year I traveled extensively in most of Ukraine I must admit that Ukrainians LOVE Serbians and people of Montenegro too.

When these routes were simply scheduled, the news was published in the news flash section, with full schedules available on the right hand side in the new route launches section since yesterday.

Concerning today's news, it was confirmed by an airport spokesperson, making it a bit more than a "rumour" as you suggest. Once it is scheduled, it will be published in the news flash section, as it has already been announced.

If you have any further quires in regards to the editorial policy, don't hesitate to contact exyu@exyuaviation.com

seems anon 11.23 AM got his knickers all in a twist for nothing! I would even say admin's answer is uneccessary for all people of good will and sane mind that follow this site. We know that the site is 'impartial' and politically super-correct, precisely not to provoke the idiots. What a waste of time and energy..

actually, back in 2012 we had JU in its absolute worse state when they were on the brink of bankruptcy. So with a national carrier in that state for teh airport to record a 7% growth is really good. To have an airline backed by EY and with foreign management to fail to record any growth is pathetic.

Regarding QR, seems that BEG will soon go to daily and ZAG to double daily, probably sometime during summer, year round. If that happens along with SJJ and SKP launch, that would mean QR really taking full lead in ex Yu region (noting that majority of TK demand is tied to Turkey so we cannot fully compare them). Not sure how FZ performs in ZAG/BEG with QR increase and how and if will QR new SYD and ADL affect them considering superior QR frequencies?

Oh yes, of course. Yesterday I was reading a very interesting analysis regarding Iran and their civil aviation sector and how their officials said that the aircraft they ordered will not only go to IR but will be distributed to other airlines as well. They also mentioned that they want to develop a hub system at IKA but they know that it will take between 5 and 10 years any of for their airlines become remotely relevant.

This could also be one of the reasons why QR is rushing to position itself in all of these markets. They know that it will be a difficult war fighting both Turkish Airlines and whatever Iranian airline emerges as the dominant player (my money is on Mahan).

On top of all that, there are also airlines such as Pegasus and Atlasjet which are slowly becoming important regional players. One can only imagine what will happen once the new airport in Istanbul becomes fully functional!

With Saudia consolidating and the emergence of Iran, one can wonder what will happen with Etihad which is currently the weakest airline among the MEB3.

It is pretty likely that QR is overcapacitating ex YU market for now to fully cements itself and probably keep off some other players entering as they will need to invest much more than few weekly frequencies in case of BEG or ZAG. Am very curious to see how QR develops further in ex YU in a year or two! Major advantage over EK is having narrow body in this case.As for EY, I think they are slowly lagging behind, at least in size. Time will tell if their 'alliance based on investments' strategy will hold and yield results and give them overall netwrok advantage over QR.Seems that QR will announce 12 new routes during ITB next week - they are in full swing at the moment.

Definitely but I think when you look at it long-term they will do well because they are efficiently run, they've built a brand and they've become a reliable carrier with a good product. There is a new entrant on the market and it's Oman Air. It will be interesting to see how far they will go in mirroring what others have done. I fear that soon there might be too many seats/airlines in this particular region and someone will have to lose. I don't think anyone will go bankrupt but it's not easy when you have two ego-maniac airlines in the region chronically competing at who will operate the longest flight or whatever first they can get. Not to mention that Emirates with all of their A380s will become a monster.

Before Iran opens up, Etihad must build an efficient hub and they must grow because later on might become a bit too late. Just look at what TK has been doing to them.

As far as ex-YU goes, we might end up profiting the most from this ego-war. Flydubai might clash with Qatar resulting in dirt cheap fares.

The biggest potential danger for FZ is them moving to DWC before EK does.I wish I knew how does FZ in BEG and ZAG do when we remove DXB bound traffic! I think that MEB3 went too far already for WY and the likes, but they can definitely grow more over geo position and copy/paste strategy.

You guys CERTAINLY forgot about our beloved Turkish neighbours and about TK! In a couple of years, IST will be the world´s largest airport and they will be grand. TK might not need 150 A380´s like EK but they will fly to even more destinations worldwide and the competition will just be fiercer.

Actually, 'only' 28% of TK's passengers are connecting from an international flight onto another international flight. The rest is all coming from IST and the domestic market. So I would say that the local market is still the main source of TK's growth.

The reason why I didn't mention TK in my previous comments is because I put them in the same category as the Iranian ones while the discussion was mostly on the MEB3 and their future. Pegasus is adding another 5 B738 to their fleet and they have already built a nice hub at SAW. It will be interesting to see how things develop in that region, ATH included. What will be especially interesting to see is what Pegasus and Atlasjet do once the new airport is built. Will they move some of their operations there and how aggressively will they expand. Onur Air is another carrier that has shown interest at establishing a true hub system but it was extremely difficult because of space restrictions at IST.

Finally, I don't think it would be a good thing for JU to go after European passengers who would be connecting at BEG and AUH on their way to Asia. These would be extremely low-yielding and that is one group of travelers JU could do without.

Talking of Greece, it was announced that in 2015 around 3.000 Iranian tourists visited the country while this year more than 20.000 are expected. It was mentioned that Aegean is considering increasing IKA to daily while Mahan is evaluating direct flights to the Greek islands. Iran Air is currently looking at ATH as well. IR has announced more flights to FRA, AMS, LHR, CGN...

It was also announced that there will be more links to Iran by Ukrainian airlines:

KBP-IKA-KBP 2x from end of March, Dniproavia

DNK-IKA-DNK, 1x weekly by Dniproavia

Kiev-Shiraz-Kiev, 3x weekly by UIA

Mind you, UIA already increased IKA to daily and has replaced the E95 with a B737. If I am not mistaken they are the second European airline to launch a secondary Iranian city after Austrian Airlines announced Esfahan.

UIA is introducing Venice from the start of the summer season, one of the top ATR destinations for ASL that we often forget to talk about.

An extract from the article mentionning PS plans for Shiraz:

"Shiraz, which only sees flights from international carriers like Qatar Airways and Turkish Airlines will benefit huge from the new route to Kiev. The most used gateway from Europe to Shiraz is via the one daily flight offered by Turkish Airlines. Turkish Airlines has expressed its interest in increasing flights to Shiraz. However, with UIA having the same key destinations as Turkish Airline, example such as London, Paris, Frankfurt and Stockholm, the airline can be a threath to the monopolized Turkish Airlines route to Shiraz. UIA currently offers daily flights from the mentioned European capitals to Tehran with competitive prices, reasonable transit times and on board products. UIA could, and is going by high chance to apply the same concept on the 3 weekly flights to Shiraz, and gain a bit of the market share from Turkish Airlines. UIA will of course compete with Qatar Airways too, however, the competition UIA is entering is more in the field where Turkish Airlines currently enjoys the profits. It is worth mentioning that UIA recently increased its flights to Tehran."

Without checking the details, I would suggest Etihad should entertain the offer, with condition that flights could be operated by Etihad Partner metal with 5th freedom granted to country of that Etihad Partner.

Then get Air Serbia to fly BEG-BUD-MIA or BEG-BUD-LAX etc, with JFK, ORD and YYZ being flown direct from BEG. I know that one stop flights are not the most efficient, but seems worth it to get Air Serbia long haul bigger than LO and possibly OS in no time.

Hungary looks at Belgrade getting New York flight while they are stuck with no-widebody Wizz. If Hungarians could fly JU from BUD to USA, why not Montenegrings with JU from TIV, or Slovenes with JU from LJU to USA etc?

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